A VOTE on a north west regional assembly looks unlikely today after the north east gave devolution a massive thumbs down.

Deputy premier John Prescott admitted that yesterday's vote had dealt a hammer blow to his regional devolution programme.

He said: "It is an emphatic defeat. The government believes in letting people have their say."

Even before the vote, the deputy premier had signalled that a decisive no vote in the north east would almost certainly ensure that shelved referenda in the north west and Yorkshire and the Humber would be axed.

" The people of the north east have had their chance. Why should the people of our region be denied a similar chance to decide for themselves?"

But the scale of the north east vote, a personal humiliation for Mr Prescott, now makes that highly unlikely.

Despite the indications, local government minister Nick Raynsford today said it was too early to gauge it would affect plans for other referenda.

But Knowsley North MP George Howarth - who, with other local MPs, launched the Merseyside manifesto for the 21st century earlier this year - said: "This now leaves a clear space to develop the argument about how we govern Merseyside. I hope people will now engage in a discussion about the need for a Merseyside assembly.

"I would be particularly interested to hear from members of the public

who can give views on www. merseysideassembly.org.uk"

The all-postal ballot in the north east saw 696,519 say no to an assembly, while 197,310 voted yes.

The turnout was 47.8% of the region's 1.9 million voters, higher than some recent local elections, denying devolutionists any claim that it was unrepresentative.

Shadow regions minister Bernard Jenkin said: "Regional devolution, in the north west and in Yorkshire and Humberside as well as the north east, has been blown out of the water."

The planned north west referendum, initially due this week, was shelved in the summer because of the electoral commission's inquiry into allpostal voting and ministerial fears of public apathy.